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Updated: May 13, 2026

Competing-Risk Nomogram for Predicting Cancer-Specific Survival in Multiple Primary Colorectal Cancer Patients after Surgery
Published on: September 27, 2024
Public perception of cancer survival rankings
Jakob D Jensen1, Courtney L Scherr, Natasha Brown
11University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Abstract:
Past research has observed that certain subgroups (e.g., individuals who are overweight/obese) have inaccurate estimates of survival rates for particular cancers (e.g., colon cancer). However, no study has examined whether the lay public can accurately rank cancer survival rates in comparison with one another (i.e., rank cancers from most deadly to least deadly). A sample of 400 Indiana adults aged 18 to 89 years (M = 33.88 years) completed a survey with questions regarding perceived cancer survival rates. Most cancers were ranked accurately; however, breast and stomach cancer survival rankings were highly distorted such that breast cancer was perceived to be significantly more deadly and stomach cancer significantly less deadly than reality. Younger participants also overestimated the survival rate for pancreatic cancer. These distortions mirror past content analytic work demonstrating that breast, stomach, and pancreatic cancers are misrepresented in the news.
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